– Guests on Mariner of the Seas’ repositioning cruises around the horn of South America, from Port Canaveral to the West Coast, are being treated to a unique cruise vacation with the first annual Royal Caribbean International Film Festival. The festival features a line-up of acclaimed musical theater productions adapted for the big screen, themed events shipwide, guest appearances, and master classes and workshops. Royal Caribbean Productions – Royal Caribbean International’s award-winning entertainment and production department – partnered with the team of Dori Berinstein, three-time Tony Award-winning producer and award-winning film and television producer, director and writer, and Phillip Katz, of Broadway Theatricals, to create the floating film festival, which began on January 11, 2009 aboard Mariner of the Seas and will conclude upon the ship’s arrival at Los Angeles on February 19.
“The first annual Royal Caribbean International Film Festival is proving to be a hit with guests and we are delighted to have the chance to work with such lauded entertainment industry figures as Dori Berinstein and Phillip Katz,” said Peter Compton, vice president, Entertainment, Royal Caribbean International. “The film festival aboard Mariner of the Seas is another Royal Caribbean ‘Why Not’ opportunity, where we said: why not combine a spectacular cruise around South America with a film festival? The film festival was a great success and look forward to offering more film festival cruises in the future.”
On the final leg of Mariner of the Seas’ repositioning to the West Coast, the film festival also features two special guest appearances by Cloris Leachman and Carol Channing. Ms. Leachman performed her one-woman show CLORIS!, an anecdotal and lighthearted monologue about her career in film-making, supporting a family, and the celebrities she’s known.
Broadway-legend Carol Channing is seeing the ship into Los Angeles, where Mariner of the Seas will become the largest cruise ship to be homeported in the Pacific Ocean. On one evening, guests screened the 1967 movie Thoroughly Modern Millie – in which Ms. Channing co-starred as Muzzy, which was followed by a conversation with the stage and screen legend. The film festival culminates on the evening of February 18th with an award ceremony, which will pay tribute to both Ms. Channing and Ms. Leachman for their ongoing contributions to the world of arts and entertainment.
Currently, Ms. Channing is actively engaged in promoting the benefits of returning arts education back into the curriculum of California’s public schools; providing musical instruments for low income school districts; and funding scholarships for students and teachers in the Arts through the Dr. Carol Channing & Harry Kullijian Foundation for the Arts (www.carolchanning.org/foundation.htm). Ms. Channing also is touring with her one woman show entitled “The First 80 Years Are the Hardest” and preparing for her November 2009 new CD release, entitled “For Heaven Sake.”
